Paragon structured lending sees first £17.5m wholesale deal

By Lorenzo Migliorato
May 17, 2018

Paragon has provided a £17.5m (€20m) wholesale facility to a business loan provider in the first deal for the bank’s structured lending team.

The senior debt facility to cashflow finance provider Liberis was arranged in collaboration with British Business Investments, part of the British Business Bank (BBB). It formed part of a wider £57.5m funding package to small businesses promoted by the BBB.

Paragon set up the structured lending team last year to gain additional exposure to both primary and secondary markets. The team is led by Adam Daniels, formerly of Lloyds Bank and GE Capital, who has recently been joined by Lewis Fitzsimons and Jamie Pickering, also of Lloyds.

Paragon said it was working on structured lending opportunities in the auto and asset finance sectors. It also highlighted property finance, retail point-of-sale finance and broader SME lending as sectors of interest.

Daniels said: “There has never been more to play for as a direct lender or a supplier of wholesale funds to other UK lenders.

“The opportunity to establish a new wholesale senior debt provider in the UK, to assist best in class lenders build their balance sheet was compelling. This is a specialist activity, so Paragon has built a team with deep knowledge and experience of the various sectors, structuring, credit risk and documentation.”

Paragon has also expanded its activities in large-ticket leasing, setting up an aviation finance team in February.